"There's a part two."

Kieran's hand trailed over Jack's elbow as he titled his head in curiosity. "Another gift?"

"Yeah. Uh, I just gotta… One sec." Jack reached back under the couch and grabbed the sticky bow Tara had given him. Its shiny green metallic surface taunted him.

He hoped he wasn't making a big mistake. Another one to add to his growing collection. If he woke up chained to the bed or locked up in a hidden mystery room, then he'd know for sure. Kieran was nothing like Farragut, he reminded himself. And if something did happen, then he had both vampires and werewolves on his side. It wasn't the most reassuring thought floating through his head.

"Okay. You can, uh, yeah," he trailed off as he peeled the backing off the cheap bow. Breathing in deeply, he slapped it onto his neck. He turned to face Kieran and kept his eyes on his knees. He folded his hands together tightly to keep them from shaking too badly. "You can have a drink. We'll try this."

Silence answered him, and he waited for some sort of a sign. The silence stretched on, and he looked up, catching Kieran's conflicted grimace that was barely covered by a hand.

"Are you certain?" Kieran asked, his voice strained and just above a whisper.

Was he? He looked back down at his hands and began picking at his hangnails. He wanted to do something nice for Kieran. Something that was more than just cleaning up after himself. Something with a hell of a lot more meaning behind it than a stupid little e-reader. "I'm getting everything outta this relationship and not really giving much back, and if all you want is a pint of blood once in a while, then I can do that."

"That's not true, and this isn't ne—"

"It's easier for me to commit to this than sex," Jack rushed to say. "Got it?"

Kieran leaned back against the couch arm as he assessed Jack. "I believe others would find the reverse to be true."

"I'm fucked up, in case you didn't notice," Jack said with a laugh. He ran a hand through his hair, coming up short and huffing as he dropped his hand into his lap. "Everyone knows it, so don't bother trying to make me feel better."

"You, my sweet, lovely siren, are a temptation on a level I've never encountered before." Kieran reached up and lightly ran his knuckles over Jack's cheek.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Jack leaned into the touch. "I wanna… This is physically intimate on a level I'm willing to try with you," he said. Kieran's fingers continued on into his hair and down the back of his neck. "Penetration and bodily fluids with other…things." He winced and looked up to meet Kieran's eyes. He bit at his tongue as he waited a moment, holding Kieran's stare.

There was no cloyingly sweet fog wrapping around his thoughts. Just him and his overwhelming anxiety and the need to explain himself. If not to Kieran, then to himself. "Sorry. I keep making things weirder," he mumbled. He cleared his throat and started again. "I just… I want… I want more? Like intimacy on some sort of level that's more than… More than I've had in the past."

His heart rate kicked up as Kieran gently held his hands and pulled him closer. He stared at Kieran's chest as lips rushed his forehead. He was offering himself up and had yet to process what all that entailed. Would Kieran go straight for the neck? Make a long line of sweet and gentle kisses to his wrist? A nice little bite on the wrist, nestled right in there with the rest of his scars.

"N-not the wrists," he choked out when Kieran kissed his jawline. "You can suck blood from my goddamned dick for all I care, just stay off the wrists. And my arms. And back." It didn't leave a lot of areas for Kieran.

Keiran pulled back and smiled at Jack with a raised brow. "Really."

Jack's words caught up to him. "No. Fine. I don't want my dick in someone's mouth. I tried it once, and it was weird and wet, and I didn't like it. And then I tried again with someone else, and it was pretty much the same, and that's how I found out I was the problem," he said, rambling through his nervousness. Tara's insistence that his lack of desire wasn't a real problem rattled around his head. "Not problem. Yeah. Sorry. I'd give you a go if I thought it might be different. But it's probably better this way since it won't ruin you for me. Not like that. I mean… Yeah. No dick sucking of any kind."

"Understandable. Oral's not for everyone," Kieran said as he nodded.

The tension in Jack's shoulders eased. How the fuck did he manage to luck out with someone like Kieran? With what he'd been through, he'd definitely earned it. He threw the thought firmly at the feeling of not deserving any kindness or love. It still wasn't the easiest fight in his head, but he was getting better at it.

He swallowed and looked down at their clasped hands. "I guess this is gonna be the missionary position of blood sucking?"

"That would actually be wrists. A neck is more intimate. More trusting. More, I suppose, romantic," Kieran said. He leaned in and kissed the bare side of Jack's neck.

A nervous giggle bubbled up from Jack's chest. "So your favorite position?"

"Ever the hopeful romantic, yes," Kieran whispered into Jack's ear. He trailed kisses down along Jack's neck and easily pulled away when Jack made a stilted shrug.

Jack raised his eyes and caught the self-deprecating smile. "I'm into that. Romantic's nice. Sorry. I just gotta get my head on straight here. We're gonna… We're gonna do this. Tonight."

image [https://i.imgur.com/eZY0YUq.png]